Insecurities vs. Innocence

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"Diff one for you mommy?" she said sweetly handing me an empty plate.

"mmm Delilah, that was yummy"

"Diff one for you too mommy. I bake you cookies?" she asks looking for reassurance.

"mmmm... yes, you did! That was delicious" I exclaim, placing another empty plate between the mound of laundry before me.

"Mommy, you cook too?" she asks, pulling my hand toward her play kitchen.

I look at the laundry, half folded. Sigh.

"I'll be right there." I say, as I grab another bath towel.

She walks over to plastic kitchen. Its one whole unit. A microwave,refrigerator, stove, dishwasher a sink. Even a little window over the sink. All combined into one compact area, for little hands to maneuver and little minds to imagine. I am secretly envious of all of its features. And for a second ponder what it would be like to only have to clean such a tiny kitchen. Sigh.

"You comin' mommy?"

I put my half folded towel down and approach the tiny kitchen. I sit on the floor beside her. For the next ten minutes we make soup and cookies. She tells me what to do, I listen. I peek in the kitchen window and ask for a sandwich. I watch her little body shuffle from sink to stove, dishwasher to refrigerator. She closes one door and opens another. Through the window she hands me a an empty plate.

"Here cow" she says.

I am baffled. Did my almost two year old daughter just call me a cow? Really?

"What sweetie?" I ask, trying not to sound alarmed.

"Here. Cow."

Doesn't she know I just had a baby? That all of this flab in front is extra baby- Wait! Who am I kidding, its always been there. Does she even know what it means to call someone a cow? In disbelief I ask again.

"Here cow, here baby cow"

Baby Cow? Baby Cow why is she now calling me a baby cow?

Then I smile, realizing her innocence.

"Yes! Mommy is a baby cow!"


Our trip to the farm last week proved educational. We visited some calfs who were in a pen behind a grid like fence. It dawned on me that through the gridded kitchen window of this play kitchen, that I too, must appear to be a baby cow! I absolutley love this childs imagination.